Before “The Nutcracker” was a beloved holiday ballet, it was a German fairy tale short on sugarplums.
In 1816, German author E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote a 14-chapter story called “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” While many key characters are similar, their adventures take a darker turn than in the ballet. There’s talk of blood and beheadings and lots of names you won’t find in most stage versions.
French writer Alexandre Dumas, who penned “The Three Musketeers,” later revised Hoffmann’s version to make it the light-hearted story of a girl’s favorite toy coming to life and whisking her away on a fantastical adventure.
In 1891, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, the director of Moscow’s Imperial Theatres, commissioned choreographer Marius Petipa to create a ballet inspired by Dumas’ adaptation of the story. It was set to the Tchaikovsky score that remains a staple of the ballet to this day. It premiered in December 1892 in the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
It received lackluster reviews at first.
“‘The Nutcracker’ cannot in any event be called a ballet. It does not satisfy even one of the demands made of a ballet,” one said, according to a BBC account of the ballet’s history. It also was picked apart for its minimal technical rigor and loose story. It’s just “a series of unconnected scenes,” an early critic said.
“The Nutcracker” wasn’t performed outside of Russia until 1934, when it was staged in England. San Francisco Ballet was the first company to stage it in the U.S. in 1944. Its popularity in America didn’t pick up until after George Balanchine’s version for New York City Ballet debuted a decade later. Its iconic score, creative adaptations and whimsical sets are commonly credited as reasons it’s remained a must-see holiday show for many U.S. families in the 21st century.
Sara Bauknecht: sbauknecht@post-gazette.com or on Twitter and Instagram @SaraB_PG.
First Published: November 26, 2018, 1:00 p.m.